carapace – Not your father's america

 

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (13 March 2007)

In the News:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:

Dust Storm over the Canary Islands
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17582

El Nino May Be Morphing to La Nina
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17581

Bolton de Pipanaco, Argentina
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17580

Stromboli Volcano
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17579

Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17578

Tornadoes Strike Enterprise, Alabama
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17577

Floods Isolate Trinidad, Bolivia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17576

Aerosol Optical Depth in 2006
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17575

* NASA News

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/

- NASA Studies True Colors of Evergreen Rainforests
- Spacecraft to Study Clouds at Edge of Space Arrives at Vandenberg
- Satellite Offers a Room With the Best View of Antarctica
- NASA’s THEMIS Mission Launched to Study Geomagnetic Substorms

* Media Alerts

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- How Plants Manage Calcium May Reduce Effects of Acid Rain
- Regardless of Global Warming, Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Threaten Marine Life
- Pollution Shown Cutting Rainfall in Hilly Areas
- Study Shows Pollution from China and India Affecting World’s Weather
- Tundra Disappearing at Rapid Rate
- Miniature Lab Ice Spikes May Hold Clues to Warming Impacts on Glaciers

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/

- Giant Australian Salt Lake Springs to Life
- China’s Yellow River Running Low
- Rains Helping Cool Barrier Reef
- Report Outlines Global Warming Effects
- Geologists to Map the World
- Protecting Ozone Layer Also Slowed Global Warming
- Surprising New Arctic Inhabitants: Trees
- Australia’s West Braces for Tropical Storm
- La Nina May Form in Pacific by May, as El Nino Disappears
- Climate Change Brews Ocean Trouble
- Air Pollution Cuts Rainfall Over Mountains
- Deadly Quake Rumbles Western Indonesia
- Asian Soot May Strengthen Storms Reaching U.S.
- Swiss Resorts Tackle Snow Decline

* New Research Highlights

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

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Channeling WSJ editorial, Hannity accused Clinton of “firing the Little Rock attorney” because he was “investigati[ng]” Whitewater

On the March 14 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity attempted to downplay the Bush administration’s recent controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys by accusing President Bill Clinton of “fir[ing] the Little Rock U.S. attorney” in 1993 because he had launched an “investigation into … the Whitewater deal.” In fact, as Media Matters for America noted when The Wall Street Journal made a similar claim in a March 14 editorial, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas at the time of Clinton’s election — Charles A. Banks — had refused to pursue the Whitewater matter, reportedly in defiance of pressure from George H.W. Bush administration officials in search of a pre-election issue with which to tar challenger Clinton. Moreover, as Media Matters has also documented, the extensive investigation into Whitewater — initiated several years after Clinton took office — ultimately led the independent counsel to close the probe without charging the Clintons with any wrongdoing.

Read more
 

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200703150010?src=other

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ACLU: Congress Must Investigate Claims Gonzales Shut Down NSA Review to Escape Scrutiny

15 Mar 2007

Following reports by the National Journal that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President [sic] Bush to shut down an internal review of the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program due to the possibility that his own actions would be scrutinized, the American Civil Liberties Union today renewed its call for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the program.

Complete article at:

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/29045prs20070315.html

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Iraq War: Four More Years?

MEDEA BENJAMIN, medea@globalexchange.org

GAEL MURPHY, gael@codepinkalert.org, http://codepinkalert.org

Benjamin and Murphy are co-founders of the women’s peace group CodePink. Benjamin said today: “Gael and several other peace activists were arrested Thursday morning while attempting to enter the public
Appropriations Committee [meeting in connection with the] vote on the Supplemental Bill allocating $100 billion for the war in Iraq. The Democrats were given a mandate for peace in the November election, but are allowing a bill to go to the House floor that will let the war drag on into 2008 instead of using their power of the purse to cut funds for the war. Now, Gael has been forcefully arrested for simply trying to  get into what was supposed to be a public hearing about the war funding.”

Video is at:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ME29Kcrm-jA

(Gael Murphy’s arrest begins at 5:45 into the video).

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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WINNING HEARTS, MINDS AND ARABIC BLOGS

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5845

The Washington Times reports on the U.S. State Department’s “digital outreach team,” mentioned in a recent interview by Karen Hughes, the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. “We want to make sure that U.S. views are present in the Arabic cyberspace,” said the State Department’s Jeremy Curtin. “The first step of success is to be there and have people respond. … The second step is to engage in a conversation. We try to adopt an informal tone, and we are careful what we say.” The State Department team “recently began a thread” on egyptiantalks.org, asking, “Will violence end in Iraq if U.S. forces withdraw?” In another online engagement described by Curtin, participants challenged “accusations that the U.S. military is engaged in widespread rape of men and women in Iraq.” A team member explained, “I stated that, when there have been cases of misconduct by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi civilians, a legal process has been implemented. I also said allegations that such misconduct is widespread are untrue and unproven.”

SOURCE: Washington Times, March 9, 2007

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NEOCONS IN CHENEY’S OFFICE FUND AL QAEDA-TIED GROUPS

… AND NO ONE CARES?

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com

Seymour Hersh’s recent report that Iran-Contra veterans working out of Dick Cheney’s office are using stolen funds from Iraq to arm al Qaeda-tied groups and foment a larger Sunni-Shia war is a very big deal.

Complete article at: 

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/49275/

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Dick Cheney is not a political asset

By MARIANNE MEANS
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
March 16, 2007

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney’s clout and character have been diminished by a series of political catastrophes that would have felled lesser men. But he’s not only still standing, he’s still mouthing off as though nothing’s wrong. It’s an incredibly scary performance, and it is not in the best interests of President Bush or the country. It is time for Cheney to develop a diplomatic illness that requires his resignation. He is no longer a political asset, if he ever was.

A Gallup poll reported in February, before the trial of his former chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby, that 58 percent of voters had an unfavorable opinion of Cheney. A National Journal survey this month found 50 percent of Republican insiders felt he had become a liability. “Of limited use as a spokesman for the war,” was one GOP comment in the Journal survey. Since Cheney has been wrong about everything the administration peddled to justify the war, from the absent weapons of mass destruction to the non-existent nuclear cloud, that’s no surprise. The cover of Time this week features Cheney “under a cloud” and the article is grim, fact-filled reading — and persuasive. A public figure so depicted ought to go sit in a closet with a paper bag over his head. Yet there he was last week, telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that members of Congress who voted for a non-binding resolution opposing the president’s proposed increase in troops and funds for the war in Iraq were, in effect, unpatriotic.

The vote, he said, was “not a proud episode in the history of the United States Congress.” Such legislators, he complained, are “undermining” the troops. Yet much of the real undermining has been done by the administration, which provided substandard care for many of the wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, flew them home under cover of night so they could not be seen, confused the public about the extent of troops suffering from brain injury, and put Pentagon brass in charge who didn’t seem to give a darn. Cheney went on to snarl about the pending votes in the House and Senate calling for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by March or August of next year, in advance of the presidential election.

“I hope the discussion this time will be about winning in Iraq,” Cheney said. He is sure of himself and his views, but others are not.

…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/307836_means18.html

 

Marianne Means is a Washington, D.C., columnist with Hearst Newspapers. She can be reached at 202-263-6400 or means@hearstdc.com

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Borowitz Report – Faulty Intelligence Shocker

Bush Creates Department of Faulty Intelligence
Names Author James Frey as Chief

In response to what he called a “significant increase in the amount of misinformation about our enemies,” President George W. Bush today announced that he was establishing a new Cabinet-level agency devoted solely to faulty intelligence.

By creating the Department of Faulty Intelligence, Mr. Bush said, “The United States will be able to respond swiftly and preemptively to false threats before they don’t develop.”

The President said that while the CIA and the NSA had both collected faulty intelligence in the past, “there is simply too much misinformation out there for those two agencies to handle.”

Mr. Bush said that he hoped that the Department of Faulty Intelligence would not only increase the United States’ capacity to collect false leads and red herrings, but that it would also help coordinate the sharing of useless information among the U.S.’s various spy agencies.

Mr. Bush used the announcement at the White House to introduce his nominee to head up the new department, James Frey, the author of “A Million Little Pieces.”

Mr. Frey spoke mainly in general terms about the goals of the new agency, but indicated that it would focus on “the gathering threat” posed by Belgium’s nuclear program.

In his brief remarks to the press, Mr. Frey said that he was uniquely qualified to head the Department of Faulty Intelligence because of his “deep roots” in the faulty intelligence community.

“I will be bringing over four decades of experience to this job,” said Mr. Frey, 37.

Elsewhere, hours after Congress demanded an investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys, President Bush said he would move the White House to Dubai.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Jack Ohman: cover me … they might be gay
 

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070316.gif
 

Bad Reporter(Don Asmussen): mitt romney not flip flopper …
 

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/16/950×314-badreporter.gif

Pat Oliphant: oops! mistakes were made
 

http://www.uclick.com/feature/07/03/14/po070314.gif

 

JESUS WAS IRISH

1. He lived at home until he was thirty.
2. Just before he died, he went out drinking with his buddies.
3. His mother thought he was God.
4. He thought his mother was a virgin.

                                        ==========

Become Jewish In 5 Easy Days!

Posted by Bruce Wilson

March 9, 2007

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/49027/

                                        ==========

EVANGELICAL SCANDALS: WHO MATTERS NOW?

By Sarah Posner

Who fills the void of Ted and what are their skeletons?

At:
 

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48898/

                                        ==========

God’s dupes 

Moderate believers give cover to religious fanatics — and are every bit as delusional.

By Sam Harris, SAM HARRIS is the author of “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason” and “Letter to a Christian Nation.”
March 15, 2007

<br/>
PETE STARK, a California Democrat, appears to be the first congressman in U.S. history to acknowledge that he doesn’t believe in God. In a country in which 83% of the population thinks that the Bible is the literal or “inspired” word of the creator of the universe, this took political courage.

Of course, one can imagine that Cicero’s handlers in the 1st century BC lost some sleep when he likened the traditional accounts of the Greco-Roman gods to the “dreams of madmen” and to the “insane mythology of Egypt.”

Mythology is where all gods go to die, and it seems that Stark has secured a place in American history simply by admitting that a fresh grave should be dug for the God of Abraham — the jealous, genocidal, priggish and self-contradictory tyrant of the Bible and the Koran. Stark is the first of our leaders to display a level of intellectual honesty befitting a consul of ancient Rome. Bravo.

The truth is, there is not a person on Earth who has a good reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead or that Muhammad spoke to the angel Gabriel in a cave. And yet billions of people claim to be certain about such things. As a result, Iron Age ideas about everything high and low — sex, cosmology, gender equality, immortal souls, the end of the world, the validity of prophecy, etc. — continue to divide our world and subvert our national discourse. Many of these ideas, by their very nature, hobble science, inflame human conflict and squander scarce resources.

Of course, no religion is monolithic. Within every faith one can see people arranged along a spectrum of belief. Picture concentric circles of diminishing reasonableness: At the center, one finds the truest of true believers — the Muslim jihadis, for instance, who not only support suicidal terrorism but who are the first to turn themselves into bombs; or the Dominionist Christians, who openly call for homosexuals and blasphemers to be put to death.

…

Complete article at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-harris15mar15,0,5899452.story?track=ntothtml

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No God on Stark’s side

Bay Area Rep. Pete Stark has decided to bare his soul. He’s the highest level official who has admitted to not believing in God.

March 15, 2007

THERE ARE A gazillion ways to get into trouble in Washington, but Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) has picked one of the rarest: He has come out of the closet and acknowledged that he does not believe in God.

Stark outed himself in a questionnaire from the Secular Coalition for America, which searched for elected officials willing to identify themselves as nonbelievers. It found only four, including Stark, and it claims that he is “the first open nontheist in the history of the Congress.”

“Nontheist,” by the way, is the latest secularist term of art for folks “without a god-belief,” replacing the traditional terms “atheist” and “agnostic.” (The former believes there is no God; the latter isn’t sure.) But the American Humanist Assn. — and who’s not a humanist? — prefers nontheist because most Americans wrongly think that atheists are anti-theists: people who not only don’t believe but also object to others’ belief in God(s). The association took out an ad in the Washington Post on Tuesday to congratulate Stark for his “courageous decision.”

Courage comes in many forms, and maybe responding to a questionnaire is one of them. In this case, however, Stark is hardly taking a risk; he has represented a left-leaning Bay Area district since 1973. Still, those who fail to profess at least a vague belief in some kind of supreme being are not likely to succeed in politics. In a Gallup poll last month, 53% of respondents said they would not vote for an otherwise well-qualified atheist — far more than wouldn’t vote for a homosexual (43%), a 72-year-old (42%), someone married for the third time (30%), a Mormon (24%) or a woman (11%).

That’s perhaps unsurprising given that 47% of Americans in a 2002 Pew survey said religious belief is a prerequisite to be a good person. And then there’s the biblical injunction against cavorting with the enemy (2 Corinthians 6:14): “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”

…

Complete article at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-stark15mar15,0,7563431.story?track=ntothtml

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Former minister sentenced on child rape charges … and more

WBIR-TV – Knoxville,TN,USA

The boy was 16 when the abuse began. Testimony established Dempsey and the teen had sex at least once a week for more than two years.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=43005

Teen Claims Sex Abuse At Hands Of Youth Minister

CBS 4 – Miami,FL,USA

(CBS4) Pinecrest A Miami-Dade teen is suing the Archdiocese of Miami claiming it did not do enough to stop a sexually abusive Youth Minister.
…

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_066105915.html

Former priest convicted of abuse, sentenced to 25 years

Eyewitness News – East Providence,RI,USA

The victim, now in his late 20s, testified that Teczar used threats, persuasion and the use of his Mercedes to entice him to have sex and keep it a secret. …

http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6195265&nav=F2DO

Park City Preacher Pleas Guilty to Pornography Charges

WBKO – Bowling Green,KY,USA

The indictment charged Meadows with distributing and possessing child pornbetween April and October of 2006. He was minister of the Park City United …

http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/6379852.html

Former priest convicted of sex abuse, sentenced to 25 years

abc13.com – Houston,TX,USA

Thomas Teczar, of Dudley, Massachusetts, was a priest in the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese until his departure in 1993. He served in several parishes, …

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=state&id=5102795

Raleigh’s Diocese Accused of Sex Abuse Cover-Up

WRAL.com – Raleigh,NC,USA

Raleigh — Protesters gathered outside The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh Thursday, accusing its leaders of covering up sex abuse cases involving priests. …

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1236447/

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three to see

Calvin & Hobbes: ” I don’t like Real Science…I prefer to have Life Flitered Through Religion”.

http://www.inoculatedmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/calvinfarcelarge.jpg

Don Addis: darwin’s early light
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2006/dec/images/addis-darwin-cartoon.jpg

Yaakov Kirschen: an islamic problem
http://www.cagle.com/working/070308/drybones.gif

 

ANTI-CANCER PROTEIN

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA) have found that the p53 protein, known to guard against cancer-causing DNA damage, provides an entirely different level of cancer protection: by prompting the skin to tan in response to ultraviolet light from the sun, p53 deters the development of melanoma skin cancer. New melanoma treatments could result from the discovery.

“The number one risk factor for melanoma is an inability to tan; people who tan easily or have dark pigmentation are far less likely to develop the disease,” said the study’s senior author, David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, director of the Melanoma Program at Dana-Farber and a professor in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston.. “This study suggests that p53, one of the best-known tumor-suppressor proteins in our body, has a powerful role in protecting us against sun damage in the skin.”

For more information, visit: http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20070313A2

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Ignoring abortion flip-flops, Luntz claimed Giuliani “defines the phrase ‘Says what he means, means what he says’ ”

On the March 13 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, while discussing the abortion rights views of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), Republican pollster Frank Luntz said: “This is someone who defines the phrase ‘Says what he means, means what he says.’ ” In fact, Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented (here, here, here, and here) Giuliani’s inconsistent positions on abortion.
Read more
http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200703150003?src=other

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10-Point Plan for Rebuilding the United States after Bush’s Destruction —-The Rec Report —

By Michael Rectenwald

Thursday, 15 Mar 2007

I say, resist and tell it like it is. The war and the domestic crisis are the messes that Georgie made. Here are the steps I suggest to remedy this terrible situation.

At:
http://www.legitgov.org/comment/rec_report_150307.html

 

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Al-Maliki says Iraq must pass oil law draft by 30 June for U.S. or his ouster possible

13 Mar 2007

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fears the Americans will withdraw support for his government — effectively ousting him — if parliament does not pass a draft oil law by the end of June, close associates of the Iraqi leader told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

At:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/13/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Oil.php

 

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HELP SOLVE THE MYSTERY – FOR WHOM WERE THE FIRED U.S. ATTORNEYS PUSHED ASIDE?

by Elliott Fullmer

The nation’s capital has been in an uproar this week over the U.S. attorney firings controversy. Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees held hearings Tuesday on the matter, where six of eight former U.S. attorneys (all fired in late 2006) testified that they had been the target of complaints, telephone calls and threats from either a high-ranking Justice Department official or members of Congress in the days and weeks preceding their abrupt dismissals. The replacements for the attorneys are rumored to be political appointees with little prosecutorial experience.

The story dates back to March 2006, when President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act. The bill included a provision (inserted by a staffer to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) at the request of the Justice Department) allowing the DOJ to appoint U.S. attorneys indefinitely without a presidential nomination or Senate confirmation (previously, this type of appointment could last only a maximum of 120 days). In late 2006, the administration fired eight U.S. attorneys, insisting each dismissal was motivated by performance.

To read the rest of this item, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5830

 

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 GAO Report on Operation Iraqi Freedom

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Preliminary Observations on Iraqi Security Forces’ Logistical Capabilities, GAO-07-582T, and Highlights, March 9, 2007.

“The National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, issued in November 2005, implies a conditions-based linkage between the development of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the size and shape of the U.S. presence there. The Department of Defense (DOD) reported to Congress in November 2006 that although the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior had about 323,000 trained and equipped forces, there was a serious shortcoming for both Ministries in the planning and executing of their logistics and sustainment requirements. According to DOD, without a developed logistical system the ISF will require continued Coalition support. Today’s testimony addresses (1) the current state of the ISF’s logistical capabilities, and (2) the challenges the ISF is facing to achieve logistical self-sufficiency. This testimony contains unclassified portions of a classified report that was issued on March 7, 2007. GAO’s preliminary observations are based on audit work performed from January 2006 through March 2007.”

At:
 

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07582t.pdf

Highlights at:
 

http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07582thigh.pdf

 

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Fake Congressional Opposition to War

by Stephen Lendman

Global Research, March 14, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca

The US electorate sent a clear, unequivocal message in the November mid-term elections. End the Iraq war and bring home the troops. Many supporting war in the 109th Congress lost out to more moderate voices taking over their seats because voters want change and expect new faces to deliver starting with the top issue on voters’ minds in recent polls – Iraq. A majority of the public demands it, protests and heated rhetoric continue building over it, and the Congress is about to disappoint again proving getting into war is easy but even an act of Congress can’t get us out because doing nothing is less risky than taking a stand against the prevailing view in Washington.

So the best this Congress can offer is non-binding stuff with no meaning and a wishy binding proposal rolled out March 8 guaranteeing support for the war with billions more spending than the administration wants. It also sets a timetable for partial withdrawal far enough in the future to be laughable. It proves again expecting elections to change things in Washington is like betting on an early end to winter in Chicago. Hope springs eternal but never fails to disappoint.

The House proved it February 16 sending a pathetic non-binding no-action message repudiating the administration’s decision to “surge” more troops to Iraq showing its spirit lay in its rhetoric, not in its actions where it counts. The floor language was long, loud and toothless with pieties from House Speaker Pelosi saying “We owe our troops a course of action in Iraq that is worthy of their sacrifice” but failing to provide one. So much for resolve. The Senate was even more non-binging than the House failing for second time February 17 even to pass a procedural measure to allow for a full vote on a resolution opposing more troops guaranteed to make things worse as they’re sent. Once again with chips on the line, both Houses of Congress show party member profiles in courage are as rare as ones with honor and integrity or like finding a friend in a city Harry Truman once complained about saying if you want one in Washington, “get a dog.”

Politics, Washington-style proves again campaign promises are empty, the criminal class is bipartisan, and the atmosphere is charged with empty rhetoric and business as usual. Instead of ending the war, Democrats propose continued war with more funding in new legislation sounding like an old Miller Lite commercial. Their plan is drafted to sound good, but not be ful-filling as it won’t work and won’t pass both Houses or override a presidential veto signaled by White House spokesman Dan Bartlett saying….”it’s safe to say it’s a nonstarter for the president.” So much for Democrat intentions, good or otherwise.

The new legislation calls for withdrawing US combat troops beginning no later than 120 days following passage of legislation to be completed by September 1, 2008 in the House version and suggests March 31, 2008 only as a goal in the Senate proposal. It also calls for George Bush to certify Iraq’s “government” is progressing toward established “benchmarks” July 1 and October 1 leaving that judgment to a president always claiming progress in the face of clear evidence on the ground proving otherwise.

Left out of the proposal is what Democrats like John Murtha (no dove) and other so-called “moderates” in the party wanted in it to prevent further escalation of war:

– A call for a political, not military solution to the conflict.

– Changing the military’s mission to training, logistical support and “target(ing) anti-terrorism operations.”

– Requiring the Pentagon to abide by combat readiness and training standards to include proper equipment and enough time for recuperation.

– Language prohibiting no further war funding after September 1, 2008.

– Mandating deployment extensions not exceed 365 days for the Army and 210 days for Marine units. Unmentioned is why should there be any let alone what right have we to be there in the first place.

…

Complete article at at:
 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEN20070314&articleId=5080

From: GlobalResearch.ca

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at www.lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net .

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and tune in each Saturday to the Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on The Micro Effect.com at noon US central time.

 

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Iraq War: Four More Years?

JAMES PAUL, james.paul@globalpolicy.org

Paul is executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which will soon be releasing a detailed report titled “War and Occupation in Iraq.”
Parts of the report are now available online:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/report/index.htm

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                                             ==========

ACCORDING TO U.S. MILITARY THEORY, WE CAN’T WIN IN IRAQ

By Kristian Williams, In These Times

Bush’s new top commander in Iraq says he thinks the war in Iraq is winnable, but his recent manual on counterinsurgency suggests otherwise.

At:
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/48846/

                                             ==========

three to see 

Slowpoke: The urge to purge
 

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/js031207.gif

Jack Ohman: however I am good at running this department
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070315.gif

Trouble Town (Lloyd Dangle): the clotfather

http://troubletown.com/cartoons/cartoons/ttown.852.gif

WSJ editorial baselessly suggested Clinton replaced Arkansas U.S. attorney to avoid Whitewater investigation

In a March 14 editorial headlined “The Hubbell Standard,” The Wall Street Journal suggested that former President Bill Clinton “dismiss[ed] … all 93 U.S. Attorneys” upon taking office in 1993 and subsequently appointed ” ‘Friend of Bill’ Paula Casey as the U.S. Attorney for Little Rock” in order to avoid an investigation into “the Clintons’ Whitewater dealings.” The editorial stated, “Ms. Casey never did bring any big Whitewater indictments.” But the Journal left out a key fact about the U.S. attorney whom Casey replaced: Charles A. Banks had himself resisted investigating the Whitewater matter, reportedly in defiance of pressure from George H.W. Bush administration officials in search of a pre-election issue with which to tar challenger Clinton. Moreover, as Media Matters for America has noted, the extensive independent counsel investigation into Whitewater — launched several years after Clinton took office — ultimately led the independent counsel to close the probe without charging the Clintons with any wrongdoing.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200703140011?src=other

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Whose Oil Is It, Anyway?

By Antonia Juhasz

13 Mar 2007

The Iraq hydrocarbon law would take the majority of Iraq’s oil out of the exclusive hands of the Iraqi government and open it to international oil companies for a generation or more. In March 2001, the National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney’s energy task force), which included executives of America’s largest energy companies, recommended that the United States government support initiatives by Middle Eastern countries “to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment.”

Read more

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13juhasz.html

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TRACKING THE FRONT GROUP “BOOMERANG”

by Jonathan Rosenblum

Corporate front groups can cause a “boomerang effect” to their sponsors, damaging the reputations of companies like ExxonMobil, Merck, and PepsiCo, when the sponsor’s role in misrepresenting issues is widely revealed.  Moreover, advance information or instruction can inoculate the public against deception, according to a new study published in the February 2007 issue of Communications Research.

CMD has exposed corporate and PR front groups for years—see John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton’s six books, not to mention Spin of the Day and SourceWatch.  Now, and evidently for the first time, scholars have undertaken an experiment to show how people respond toand resent corporate manipulation.

To read the rest of this item, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5847

                          ==========

9/11: Looking for Truth in Credentials: The Peculiar WTC “Experts”

by Kevin Ryan

Global Research, March 13, 2007
9/11 blogspot

When Matthew Rothschild, editor of the online magazine The Progressive, wrote an article called “Enough of the 9/11 Conspiracies, Already”, we all knew he was not talking about the conspiracy theory that the US government sells us to justify the expanding 9/11 Wars.[1] To the contrary, in writing that article Mr. Rothschild was selling that same theory himself. What he actually meant was that people should not question the US government’s story of terror because credentialed experts have been found to support it. But the fact is that the experts found to support the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 are predominantly those who profit from doing so. That’s not to say that all of these people were “part of the conspiracy”. But they are, whether consciously or not, a part of the cover-up. And that, of course, is the greater crime.

The Bush Administration employed a number of such credentialed experts to give us multiple explanations for the unprecedented destruction of three tall steel-framed buildings at the World Trade Center (WTC). Unfortunately, all of those explanations have proven to be false, and this fact reminds us that academic credentials don’t necessarily make a person more capable, or more likely, to tell the truth.

Exactly how they could find so many experts on the fire-induced collapse of tall buildings is not immediately clear, considering such an event had never happened before. But it did help that the questions were quickly framed as being solely matters of structural engineering, a sub-field of civil engineering, because structural engineers cannot find work without continual government approvals. A Chemistry laboratory manager like myself can work without permits or licenses, but people can’t just go out and build a bridge or a tall building on their own. The extensive paperwork necessary to complete civil engineering projects is obtained by working closely with, and staying on good terms with, local and national authorities. That fact may not be enough to ensure vocal support for the official story of “global collapse”, but it has been enough to keep most structural engineers from publicly opposing the intransigent government stance on the WTC events.

From where, then, has the vocal support come within the engineering community? Matthew Rothschild points to some interesting characters when he says that “I made a few calls myself”, including to Gene Corley and to Mete Sozen. Additionally, Rothschild says that he consulted “some of the top building design and engineering firms”, like Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Greenhorne & O’Mara. To emphasize just how solid the government’s story is, he adds that he “also contacted engineering professors at MIT and other leading universities in the country, and none of them puts any stock in the 9/11 conspiracy theories.”

What Mr. Rothschild failed to tell us is that Gene Corley and Mete Sozen not only created the reports that he is defending, but have also, for many years, worked for the US Department of Defense (DOD) through the Blast Mitigation for Structures Program (BMSP). Since 1997, this program has provided the DOD with expertise in explosives, and has been funded at $10 million annually.[2] After 9/11, astronomical increases in DOD funding were likely to have benefited all DOD partners and programs, like DOD’s Nunn-Perry award winner, Greenhorne & O’Mara, and those involved with the BMSP. Of course, the DOD was probably already awash in black-budget funds prior to 9/11, as indicated by the missing trillions reported by the DOD on 9/10/01.[3]

Rothschild also failed to let us know that Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), one of his independent engineering firms, is responsible for the architectural design of the new Freedom Tower. SOM gained that contract at the personal insistence of Larry Silverstein, the original owner of WTC 7 and the WTC towers’ leaseholder. Mr. Rothschild may also not be aware that William Baker, a top executive at SOM, was involved in several of the official WTC investigations and reports that have been generated. In any case it is clear that the “Freedom Tower” would not be the publicity-rich project it is today if an alternative explanation forced us to rename it the “There Goes Our Freedom Tower”.

Getting back to those experts at BMSP, we see that DOD employs a number of consulting firms to help out Corley and Sozen, in what is called the Blast Mitigation Action Group (BMAG), including ARUP, ARA, SAIC, SGH, Thornton-Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates.[4] It should be noted that most of these firms were major contributors to the various official explanations for collapse of the WTC buildings, as well as being government contractors in fields related to terrorism. Strangely, despite their overwhelming expertise in the use of explosives, none of their explanations for the WTC events had anything to do with explosives.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=RYA20070313&articleId=5071

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

References

1. Enough of the 9/11 Conspiracies, Already, The Progressive, Matthew Rothschild, September 11, 2006 http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx091106

2. For a short description of DOD’s BMSP, see “Department of Defense Should Broaden Communication Efforts to Protect Federal and Civilian Buildings From Bomb Attacks”, The National Academy of Sciences, November 2001, http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10230

3. Missing Trillions: Rumsfeld Buries Admission of Missing 2+ Trillion Dollars in 9/10/01 Press Conference, 911Research.com, http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/trillions.html

4. US Army Corps of Engineers, Blast Mitigation Action Group (BMAG), Consulting Firms, https://bmag.usace.army.mil/consulting_firms.php

5. Blast Loading and Response of Murrah Building, Mlakar, Corley, Sozen, Thornton, 1997, http://www.terrorisminfo.mipt.org/pdf/forensicengineering2.pdf

6. General Partin’s letter to Senator Lott can be found in its entirety in the Final Report on the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, April, 19,1995, The Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee, Appendix, page 378-380. This letter is also reproduced here -http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/OK/PARTIN/ok8.htm

7. See Context of ‘March 6, 2002: House Committee on Science Holds Hearing on WTC Collapses Investigation, Cooperative Research, http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a030602collapsehearing

8.“When the Twin Towers Fell”, Scientific American, October 9, 2001 http://www.public-action.com/911/jmcm/sciam/

9. The US State Department still appears to be promoting this first false theory by promoting Osama (Fatty) Bin Laden’s baseless statements. US State Department website: The Top September 11 Conspiracy Theories, http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=pubs-english&y=2006&m=August&x=20060828133846esnamfuaK0.2676355

10. Profile: Weidlinger Associates, Cooperative Research http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=weidlinger_associates_1

11. “Report Ties WTC Collapses to Column Failures”, Engineering News-Record, 10/25/02, McGraw Hill Construction, http://www.construction.com/NewsCenter/Headlines/ENR/20021025b.asp

12. Study Absolves Twin Tower Trusses, Fireproofing, Engineering News-Record, 11/04/02 http://enr.construction.com/news/buildings/archives/021104.asp

13. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, August 2006, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster, http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm

14. See my essay, What is 9/11 Truth? – The First Steps, at the Journal of 911 Studies, http://www.journalof911studies.com . Also see the critique of my presentation Review of ‘A New Standard For Deception: The NIST WTC Report’ A Presentation by Kevin Ryan, Jim Hoffman, 911Research.com, 10/15/06 http://911research.wtc7.net/reviews/kevin_ryan/newstandard.html

15. See video of John Gross’ presentation at the University of Texas Austin, with testimonies and evidence of molten metal at the WTC. Project for New American Citizens, http://911blogger.com/node/6104

16. “A 9/11 Conspiracy Virus is Sweeping the World, But it Has No Basis in Fact”, George Monbiot, The Guardian, February 6, 2007, http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2007519,00.html

17. Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand up to the Facts, Dunbar & Reagan, Hearst Press, 2006. Note: See also Eduardo (melting steel) Kausel’s glowing review in the front cover.

18. See Fedspending.org, Grants, http://www.fedspending.org/

19. City in the Sky: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center, James Glanz and Eric Lipton, (New York: Times Books, 2003), 138

20. Remembering “The Chief”, PBS’s Online NewsHour, 9/07/00, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec00/nasaw_9-7.html

                          ==========

9/11 FAMILIES DEMAND GOP STOP BLOCKING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS

Bob Geiger: Victims’ families tell McConnell to stop stalling

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/49133/

                          ==========

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse – Greetings from TRAC –

Very timely monthly data available at

http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/

show that criminal immigration charges by federal prosecutors have substantially declined in the last year.  The recent 18% slump in these cases may mark the end or a slowing in the massive surge that has been recorded by the Bush Administration’s Justice Department since October of 2003.

These latest TRAC data tools cover the five-year period through the end of November 2006. With them, you can document trends in federal districts around the country for the overall number of prosecutions filed and convictions obtained in white collar crime, drugs, weapons and immigration.  U.S. District Court judges who handled the largest number of cases are also highlighted.  These tools continue to be available for the areas of civil rights, corruption, environment, organized crime, pornography and regulation.

For example, last November the Southern District of Texas continued to lead other federal districts in the number of new immigration prosecutions filed in the U.S. District Court.  Arizona and the Southern District of California each moved up in their rankings from a year ago to be the second and third most active districts.  New districts in the top ten most active in November as compared with one and five years ago were Utah, Colorado, Kansas and the Eastern District of Washington.

The new data tool was made possible with grants from the JEHT Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as support from Syracuse University.

David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Syracuse University
488 Newhouse II
Syracuse, NY  13244-2100
315-443-3563
trac@syr.edu

http://trac.syr.edu

                          ==========

Borowitz Report – Satan Endorsement Shocker

I Won’t Back Gingrich, Says Satan

Former House Speaker Loses Longtime Supporter

In what many political observers consider a bruising blow to a potential 2008 White House bid by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House lost one of his longtime supporters today when Satan announced that he would not support a Gingrich candidacy.

For the normally reclusive Prince of Darkness, the decision to hold a press conference at the Washington Airport Marriott to reveal that he would not be supporting Mr. Gingrich struck many as extraordinary.

Dressed in his traditional red cape and carrying a smoldering pitchfork, Satan stated in no uncertain terms that he would be withholding his endorsement from his former colleague: “Not only am I not supporting Newt, I am giving his soul back.”

Satan’s announcement was particularly hurtful to the potential G.O.P. presidential candidate because, in the words of Gingrich supporter Tracy Klujian, “Newt and Satan have worked so closely in the past.”

According to a close associate of the Prince of Darkness, Satan’s rift with Gingrich stemmed from the former House Speaker’s decision to confess that he had had an extramarital affair with a staffer while pursuing the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton for having an extramarital affair with a staffer.

“The fact that Newt confessed it to Jerry Falwell really ticked Satan off,” the Satan aide said.

Gingrich supporter Klujian remains hopeful, however, that the breach between the two infernal colleagues can somehow be mended: “You can win the G.O.P. nomination without Satan’s help, but it’s not easy.”

Elsewhere, President Bush kept expectations low for his tour of Latin America, telling reporters, “I never got good grades in Latin.”
http://www.borowitzreport.com/

                          ==========

three to see

Clay Jones: where’s captain america when we really need him?

http://img.slate.com/media/93/070313_ed.gif

Minimum Security: Pyramid scheme

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sm031207.jpg

Ted Rall: spy lotto

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/trall/2007/trall070315.gif

NEW PULSE POSTED 

http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/pulse_v230_07.htm

That’s the url to the March 12, 2007, issue of DOE Pulse. Pulse is a newsletter about accomplishments at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Here is some of what you’ll find in this issue:

* Livermore: Detecting explosives

* Berkeley: Treating breast  cancer

* NREL: Hybrid vehicles’ impact on grid

* NETL: Developing new sorbents

Feature:  Idaho’s work in neutron capture therapy

Researcher profile: PPPL’s Charles Skinner

                          ==========

Limbaugh: “[Y]ou could say liberals are aborting themselves out of the majority”

On the March 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh commented on a speech by former Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) in which Miller stated that Roe v. Wade has led to “too few people” being “produced” in the United States and therefore fewer people filling jobs or serving in the military by stating: “I would only have one small nitpick with former Senator Zeller [sic] over this: How many of these 45 million children who have been aborted would be Democrats, would be the offspring of Democrats? And as such, how many of them would have jobs? As such, how many of them would even think of joining the military?” He then said, “I know there are some Republican liberal babes in there that [have] gone out and had abortions, too, but the vast majority of them are liberals,” adding, “This way, if you look at the demographics of the future, you could say liberals are aborting themselves out of the majority, if current trends hold.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200703120006?src=other

                          ==========

Firings Had Genesis in White House –

White House Suggested Dismissing Prosecutors 2 Years Ago, Documents Show 13 Mar 2007 The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales approved the idea of firing a smaller group of U.S. attorneys shortly after taking office in February 2005.

At:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201818.html

                          ==========

POLITICAL PURGING: U.S. ATTORNEYS REPLACED WITH BUSH LOYALISTS

By Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet

In the Bush administration, justice has become politicized. Gonzales has used provisions in the Patriot Act to replace U.S. Attorneys with Bush loyalists.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/49147/

                          ==========

Sunshine Week 2007: March 11-17 

“Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami. Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger. Sunshine Week is a non-partisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.”

Sunshine Week 2007: Calendar of Events

http://www.sunshineweek.org/sunshineweek/calendar07

                          ==========

Colombia and the United States–The Partnership: But What Is the Endgame?.

Authored by Ambassador Myles R. R. Frechette.

The United States has provided a considerable amount of economic, police, judicial, and military assistance to the American-Colombian strategic partnership since Plan Colombia. But much work looms ahead to eliminate the threats to state authority—the terrorism and the drug trafficking that nurture so much violence and corruption. These threats continue as the producers have learned how to outwit government counternarcotics efforts.

See:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=762

                          ==========

US GAO DOD and VA Health Care:

Challenges Encountered by Injured Servicemembers during Their Recovery Process, by Cynthia A. Bascetta, director, health care, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.  GAO-07-606T, March 8.

Complete report at:

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-606T

Highlights -

http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07606thigh.pdf

                          ==========

Propaganda and the Politics of Perception

by Michael Carmichael

Global Research, March 12, 2007
Planetary Movement

A version of this text was presented to the Kuala Lumpur Conference on War Crimes, Perdana Global Peace Organization, 5-7 February 2007.

War propaganda glorifies military indoctrination as the highest form of patriotism while simultaneously demonizing the enemies of the state.

Adolf Hitler realized the power of propaganda to mould and shape public opinion. Hitler wrote a highly informed essay on the powers of propaganda in his political autobiography, Mein Kampf.

Modern governments employ propaganda to incite public outcries for war in order to advance their agendas in foreign policy.

War propaganda is nothing new. The dynastic Egyptians created monumental sculptures that glorified Pharaoh as a conqueror who personally executed – frequently by fracturing their sculls with a mace – hundreds of the enemies of his state. Thus, the public glorification of war and its most heinous crimes has been with us for thousands of years.

War propaganda is abundantly evident in the fabric of our culture, and it presents no symptoms of weakness or dissipation. Quite the opposite is true. The latest film by Clint Eastwood, Flags of our Fathers, is little more than war propaganda that glorifies American military achievements in the context of a racial enemy – the Japanese. Sadly, Clint Eastwood has a long history of manufacturing films that are nothing more than pulpish propaganda: Where Eagles Dare; Heartbreak Ridge, Firefox and many other glorifications of violence and the principle, “Might makes right.”

While the primary purpose of war propaganda is to manufacture public commitment to wars and their inevitable crimes, in George Bush’s America psychological warfare aimed directly at the American public is designed to manufacture the political platform to launch a perpetual state of war that will produce a totalitarian regime headed by a Commander-in-Chief who is nothing more than a military dictator.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CAR20070312&articleId=5058

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

References

Accuracy in the Media: Misinformation, Mistakes, and Misleading in American and Other Media / Todd Leventhal, Chief of the Counter-Information Team, U.S. Department of State; Dante Chinni, Senior Associate, Project for Excellence in Journalism

http://fpc.state.gov/fpc/44433.htm

The Life of Mohammed by the Rev. George Bush, AM

http://www.muhammadanism.org/bush/bush_mohammed.pdf

Hell the musical comes to Vatican

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6227549.stm

                          ==========

Bush in Latin America: Major Issues

MARK WEISBROT, weisbrot@cepr.net,

http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1067&Itemid=45

Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot writes frequently about economic and political developments in Latin America. His most recent article is “President Bush’s Trip to Latin  America Is All About Denial,” which states: “Latin America’s economic growth over the last 25 years has been a disaster — the worst long-term growth failure in more than a hundred years. From 1980-2000, GDP per  person grew by only 9 percent, and another 4 percent for 2000-2005. Compare this to 82 percent for just the two decades from 1960-1980, and it is easy to see why candidates promising new economic policies have been elected (and some re-elected) in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. They also came close to winning in Mexico, Peru, and Costa Rica.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

                          ==========

three to see

This Modern World: Further adventures of Conservative Jones, boy detective

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW031407.jpg

Nick Anderson: now she’s gone too far

http://www.slate.com/id/2112318/fr/nl/

Jack Ohman: a pardon for libby…

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070309.gif

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (06 March 2007)

In the News:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:

Aerosol Optical Depth in 2006
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17575

Kerguelen Islands
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17574

Flooding in Somalia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17573

Qeshm Island, Iran
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17572

Young and Old Tibesti Volcanoes
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17571

Humans, El Nino Conspire to Boost Carbon Monoxide Levels
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17569

Another Iceberg from Former Ross Sea Giant
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17568

Mirador Basin, Guatemala
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17567

* NASA News

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/

- NASA’s Advanced Technology Peers Deep Inside Hurricanes
- Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Hidden Lakes Speed Ice Flow Into Ocean, May Disrupt Climate
- Airborne Science in the Classroom: The Next-Best Thing to Being There
- NASA Detects Trends in Rainfall Traits from Drizzles to Downpours
- Pacific Shows Signs of Morphing From Warm El Nino to Cool La Nina
- NASA Data Link Indonesian Wildfire Flare-Up to Recent El Nino

* Media Alerts

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- Climate Change Brews Trouble for Marine Life in European Seas
- Heat Wave on the Top of the World
- United States Launches New International Polar Year
- Sediment Wedge Key to Glacial Environmental Stability
- Hurricane Can Form New Eyewall and Change Intensity
- Yellowstone’s Quiet Power
- New Evidence That Global Warming Fuels Stronger Hurricanes
- Imagery Shows Outer Great Barrier Reef at Risk from River Plumes
- A Climate-Change Amplifying Mechanism

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/

- Missing: A Huge Chunk of the Earth’s Crust
- South Korea’s Warmest Winter in a Century
- Ants Adapt Quickly to Warming
- Warm Winters Upset Rhythms of Maple Sugar
- Tibetans Carry On as Glaciers Fall Victim to Global Warming
- 40 Killed, Dozens Missing in Indonesian Landslides
- India’s ‘Wet Desert’ Hit by Global Climate Change
- Longest Underground River Found
- Warming Could Slow Ocean Currents
- Eyewalls May Predict Hurricane Changes
- Scientists Watch Polar Areas for Changes
- At Least 14 Killed in Tornadoes
- Old Data Supports Global Warming Link to Hurricanes
- La Nina Brewing, More Hurricanes Possible
- Residents of Erupting Stromboli Told to Avoid Coast
- Scientists: Geyser Event was a Burp
- Scientists Wary of Lake Superior Warming
- Winter ‘Second Warmest on Record’
- Warming May Kill Brazil Species, Studies Find

* New Research Highlights

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

==========

Beck: Supporters of Dems’ Iraq bill “will be just as responsible” for troop deaths as suicide bombers

On the March 8 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck issued the following warning to members of Congress who support the Democratic leaders’ plan to set a date certain for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq: “If your bill goes through, I hope you can’t go to bed any single night without the images of body bags of our American soldiers coming off those planes. I hope they dance in your head every single night, because you will be just as responsible for their deaths as anyone who has ever strapped a bomb to their chest and screamed, ‘Allah Akbar.’ ”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200703090002?src=other

==========

‘Smart’ rebels outstrip US –

Top American generals make shock admission as Iraq leader pleads with neighbouring countries to seal off their borders 11 Mar 2007 The US army is lagging behind Iraq’s ‘insurgents’ tactically in a war that senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago. In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan ‘as smart, agile and cunning’ [--the opposite of Bush].

At:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2031172,00.html

==========

National Security Archive Update, March 12, 2007 – AGENCIES VIOLATE LAW ON ONLINE INFORMATION

Only One in Five Federal Agencies Meets Congress’s Requirements 10 Years After Electronic Freedom of Information Amendments

“E-Delinquents” Include Air Force and Immigration/Customs; Education and NASA Rank as “E-Stars” with Excellent Web Sites

Knight Open Government Survey by National Security Archive Covers 149 Federal Offices, Concludes “File Not Found”

http://www.nsarchive.org/

For more information contact:
Thomas Blanton, Meredith Fuchs, Kristin Adair, Catherine Nielsen
202/994-7000

Washington D.C., 12 March 2007 – Ten years after Congress enacted the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments (E-FOIA), only one in five federal agencies actually complies with the law, according to a new survey released today during Sunshine Week by the National Security Archive.

Passed in 1996 and effective in 1997, E-FOIA ordered federal agencies to post key records online, provide citizens with detailed guidance on making information requests, and use new information technology to publish information proactively. The act’s intent: Expand public access and reduce the burden of FOIA requests.

But most federal agencies do not follow the law, according to the National Security Archive’s government-wide audit, “File Not Found,” conducted with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight Open Government Survey systematically reviewed agency Web sites to cover all 91 federal agencies that have Chief FOIA Officers and the additional 58 agency components each of which handles more than 500 FOIA requests a year. Key findings are:

* Only one in five federal agencies (21 percent) posts on the Web all four categories of records that the law specifically requires;

* Only one in 16 agencies (6 percent) posts all ten elements of essential FOIA guidance;

* Only 36 percent of agencies provide the required indexes of records;

* Only 26 percent of agencies provide online forms for submitting FOIA requests;

Many agency Web links are missing or just wrong – one FOIA fax number checked in the Knight Survey actually rang in the maternity ward of a military base hospital.

“Federal agencies are flunking the online test and keeping us in the dark,” said Thomas Blanton, the Archive’s director. “Some government sites just link to each other in an endless empty loop.” “Public access on the Web to government information is the only long-term solution to the backlogs and delays that undermine the FOIA today,” said the Archive’s general counsel, Meredith Fuchs. “This audit plus Congressional oversight should provide a wake-up call to the agencies.”

Fuchs cited the Education Department and NASA as “E-Stars” with excellent FOIA Web sites, and the Air Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Veterans Affairs as among the dozen “E-Delinquents.” Last week, the Archive faxed the top FOIA officer at each of the E-Delinquents with advance notice of the Survey and the critical findings specific to that agency.

“It’s appropriate that this important news is being released during Sunshine Week, when millions of Americans will be able to see it,” said Eric Newton, vice president of the journalism program at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. “People need to know when their government is not obeying its own laws.”
The Emmy- and George Polk Award-winning National Security Archive at the George Washington University has carried out five government-wide audits of FOIA performance over the last five years, prompting multiple Congressional hearings, compelling agencies to clean up their backlogs of oldest requests, and providing evidence for bipartisan reform legislation now pending in the Congress.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted nearly $300 million to advance journalism quality and the freedom of expression.

Follow the link below to read the Knight Open Government Survey on the Web site of the National Security Archive.

http://www.nsarchive.org/

==========

New Report Discussess Impact of Technology on U.S. Health Care Costs

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Paper Examines How Medical Technology Affects Health Care Costs

Health care experts frequently point to the development and adoption of medical technology as key factors in the rapid rise in national health care spending, with some arguing that new medical technology accounts for one half or more of real long-term spending growth. A new paper in the Foundation’s Snapshots: Health Care Costs series examines the ways changes in medical technology can affect health care costs.

The term “medical technology” can refer to procedures, equipment, drugs, medical devices and administrative support systems used to track patient information. The paper discusses why medical technology is considered one of the most important factors in rising health care costs. Even if an advance in medical technology is less costly than the current approach, the new technology may extend treatment to a greater number of patients or may add to rather than replace existing treatment, requiring an increase in overall health care costs. The paper also looks at some of the key factors that can influence the development and adoption of new technology, including consumer demand and insurance coverage, and raises policy issues such as whether we receive adequate value for money spent on new medical technologies and what are various methods of containing medical technology costs.

The new paper, How Changes in Medical Technology Affect Health Care Costs, is available online at

http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm030807oth.cfm .

Snapshots: Health Care Costs, an online series (http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/index.cfm) written by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers, uses charts, data and analysis to provide insight into key issues affecting the cost of health care in the United States. The Snapshots are intended to help increase understanding of how rising health costs can be addressed, and encourage a well-informed and fact-based discussion as policymakers in Washington and across the country weigh strategies for curbing the rising costs of health care for people, businesses and governments alike.

For additional information, please contact Craig Palosky at 202-347-5270 or cpalosky@kff.org

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EVEN REPUBLICANS HATE OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

By David Moberg, In These Times

Our health care system has gotten so bad that even Republicans acknowledge that it’s broken — so what’s the best way to deal with it?

At:

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/48974/

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Bush in Latin America: Major Issues

HECTOR DE LA CUEVA, cilas@prodigy.net.mx,

http://www.asc-hsa.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=11

Hector de la Cueva is director of the Center for Labor Research and Union Consultation (the Spanish acronym is CILAS). He said today: “Bush is in Latin America in part to promote ‘free trade,’ but this does not
look good to most people in Mexico. Since NAFTA, wages have gone down in Mexico; there are fewer jobs and the jobs are worse. This has created a social disaster in Mexico. This is why you have so much migration to the U.S.; mainly from the countryside, but also from the cities. Now, they are talking about ‘NAFTA-plus,’ which will make things worse.

“Something like NAFTA is not ‘free trade.’ It’s not free and it’s not only about trade. It’s a super-national economic constitution. The big corporations and biggest companies make these rules for their
benefit — and most people in the less developed countries become worse off.” Hector de la Cueva is on the council of the Hemispheric Social Alliance.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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THE NUMBERS IN IRAQ KEEP CREEPING UP

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com

Whether it’s the size of the military deployment in Iraq, the financial cost of the war or the amount of time US troops are spending in Iraq, the numbers keep creeping up, even as the situation deteriorates.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/49115/

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Borowitz Report – Giuiliani’s Ex-Wives Shocker

Giuliani’s Ex-wives March on Washington

Police Estimate Crowd at 200,000

In a dramatic display of political strength in numbers, an organization comprising the ex-wives of Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani marched on Washington today, demanding that their thousands of voices be heard.

The organization, which calls itself Focus on the Ex-Family and which claims as its members all 300,000 former wives of the former New York City mayor, marched from the Capitol building to the White House in one of the largest political demonstrations in recent memory.

By organizing the massive demonstration in the nation’s capital, the exes of New York’s former mayor were hoping to prove that they are the Republican Party’s largest single voting bloc and thus deserve a prominent role in choosing the G.O.P. nominee.

Carol Foyler, executive director of Focus on the Ex-Family, said that over 250,000 ex-wives of Mr. Giuliani had turned out for the march, although police estimated the crowd at closer to 200,000.

Still, according to Washington mayor Adrian M. Fenty, the turnout was impressive: “It’s amazing that Rudy has so many wives, and he isn’t even the Mormon guy in this race.”

By standing up and demanding that they be counted, Mr. Giuliani’s hundreds of thousands of ex-wives may have a profound impact on the way the nation perceives the former New York City mayor, according to Davis Logsdon, head of the political science department at the University of Minnesota.

“For some time, Rudolph Giuliani has been thought of as ‘America’s Mayor,’” Dr. Logsdon said. “This march on Washington shows that he is ‘America’s Ex-husband,’ too.”

Elsewhere, in recognition of Daylight Savings Time, President Bush set the country back fifty years.

Andy in New York – March 26
Andy returns to his smash-hit live show Monday, March 26 at Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction. Lucky audience members will receive autographed copies of Andy’s new book, THE REPUBLICAN PLAYBOOK. Doors open at 8:15; show begins at 8:30. 34 Avenue A between 2nd and 3rd. Tickets only $6 at the door or at http://www.ticketweb.com/.

Andy in Chicago – April 12
Andy headlines The Moth Story Tour at the Metro in Chicago on Thursday, April 12. For tickets go to http://www.metrochicago.com/

Next Week’s News Starring Andy Borowitz – April 26
Andy stars in an all-new show on Thursday, April 26 at 8 PM at Caroline’s on Broadway. 1626 Broadway, New York 10019. Box Office: 212-757-4100

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Pat Oliphant: so what’s the story with this one?

http://www.uclick.com/feature/07/03/07/po070307.gif

Sandy Huffaker: democratic faggots debate

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/32239/

Tom the Dancing Bug: did you know? … this week

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/td/2007/td070310.gif